Assorted Baking Tips & Food Substitutions
Source of Recipe
Internet
To keep whipped up cream in the fridge for up to 2 hours, place cream in a fine mesh strainer over a cup, loosely cover cream with plastic wrap.. Any excess liquid will seep through and the cream will retain it's stiffness..
A tsp of vinegar will lighter up and stabilize egg white meringues
Store marsmallows in the freezer in hot humid weather or for longer storage
To save clean up of your counters: roll out your biscuit or pastry dough on a floured linen cloth, or use those new plastic baking sheets or a floured piece of heavy duty freezer wrap paper.
To chill shortening quickly: drop balls ( small ice cream scoop ) of shortening into ice water to chill for 10 minutes
Invert a large glass or ceramic bowl over your baked cheesecake until cooled. This may prevent cracks
Can't find a bottle neck narrow enough to invert your tube pan on when making angel food or chiffon cakes? Use 3 or 4 inverted creamic coffee cups to balance your cake pan on to help cooling.
Line all your baking pans with buttered brown paper so none of your holiday baking ( esp recipes containing fruit and nuts, etc.) will not stick to the bottom of the pan when removed.
Make your own black walnuts for baking using pecans. Use a few drops of black walnut flavor extract and sprinkle over chopped precans. Toast pecans lightly and use them in any baking recipe calling for black walnut
When rolling out any pastry ( cookies, pies etc. ) doughs on the counter, use sugar instead of flour for the board or counter and use cocoa powder for chocolate based doughs.
Instead of purchasing an authentic banneton/brotform, try using a cheap plastic bowl or bread basket lined with a floured linen cloth for rising your bread dough
Freeze marshmallows, then if needed, cut easily with a scissors for recipes
Place a cake pan or pan of cookies onto a damp towel after removing from the oven. The baked goods will not stick to the pan when removing.
For difficult to release cookies from a baking sheet, place over a pan of boiling water. The steam will help loosen the cookies.
Sprinkle presweetened powdered drink mix onto sugar cookies- tasty and pretty
Dip a cookie cutter into water each time you cut out a cookie.
Use an upside down collander as a cooking rack for a cake pan.
Add a drop of yellow food color to pie pastry doughs to make them appear richer and festive.
No fresh milk for baking? ( for 1 cup ): use 1/2 cup each evaporated milk and water. Or 1/3 cup instant nonfat milk plus 1 cup water minus 1 Tbs. water
For ease of rolling out pie crust:: Dampen your counter top with some water. Smooth over a large piece of waxed paper
( waxed side up ). Flour the paper and roll out your crusts with ease.
For 5 equal pieces of pie: Cut a "Y" in the pie and then cut the two large pieces in half. You will then have exactly 5 pieces of pie the same size
Use a floured scissors to cut raisins, other such dried fruits and nuts for baking.
Try dental floss to score and cut pieces of cheescake and other soft cakes.Also great to cut cinnamon roll dough.
Sprtiz cookies will taste best with good texture if half butter and half margarine is used for all the shortening in the recipe.
Gingerbread tastes better when some fresh grated orange ( or lemon rind ) is added to the batter
Freeze sticks of butter or margarine solid and grate on a cheese grate or slicer for recipes that need pieces of chilled fat ( such as pastry crusts, biscuits, cookies etc ) You can also use a butter cutter to slice chilled (but not frozen) butter into individual butter pats for the recipe
To prevent prebaked pie shells from getting soggy: coat the bottom with cream cheese or melted chocolate and chill well before adding the prepared filling. Or brush on 1 unbeaten egg white before baking
A layer of marshmallows on the bottom of the crust when making pumpkin pie will rise to the top for a nice pumpkin pie topping
Remove hot pizza from a baking oven stone but don't have an oven peel?- Just slide a heavy duty baking sheet under the pizza and then slide it out from the the stone
Need a flour sifter? : use a mesh colander to sift flour, sugar, baking cocoa etc.
For custard pies: cook the custard first in a well greased pie pan ( without the crust.). Chill in pan. Then carefully remove and place into a cooled and prebaked pie crust of the same size. This prevents a weepy custard and or pie shell.
Make your own baking spice mix:
For Coffee Cake : Mix : 4 TBS Granulated sugar, 2 TBS Cinnamon , 1 TBS Ground nutmeg ,
1 tsp Ground cloves and 1/2 tsp Ground mace .
For Gingerbread: add 1 Tbs Ground ginger , 2 tsp Allspice .
Store airtight in a cool place and out of direct light. Use as a swirl in cakes or sprinkled as a topping. Add to streusl recipes etc.
To keep your bread or muffins warm, : warm a small microwave heating pad, place it in the bread basket, cover it with foil, add your bread, muffins etc. Cover basket with a tea towel to keep in warmth.
Store a powder puff in your flour cannister to dust your baking pans with flour
For a general thicker yoghurt, strain through a cheesecloth, or fine mesh strainer. Discard excess liquid and chill. For
extra richness and thickness add a few Tbs. of sour cream into the yoghurt
Greek Style Yoghurt: to make very thick rich " Greek "yoghurt add several Tbs. of yoghurt to 8 oz. of full fat sour cream. Place in a cheesecloth and let excess liquid drain into a bowl. Chill the solids well.
Mascarpone Cheese Substitute:
Mix together: 3/4 lb cream cheese, 1/4 lb ricotta cheese, 2 Tbs. heavy cream, 1 Tbs. sugar, juice of one lemon. Chill well before use. Use for tiramisu and other dessert fillings
Or:
Blend together: 16 oz Cream cheese, 1/3 c Sour cream and 1/4 c Whipping cream.
Search the Net for other recipes.
Creme fraiche and how to make it:: True French creme fraiche is a naturally fermented and matured raw double cream. We can make a similar product by combining 1/2 cup sour cream with 1/2 to 1 cup heavy cream and warming the combination to 80F. Then let the mixture stand partially covered in a warm place overnight. Stir and chill. This is only one recipe and there are quite a few other ways to make it.( i.e. mixing 1 heavy cream with 2 Tbs. buttermilk ) Most people claim substitutes are mediocre in taste and cannot compare to the real thing!
One way to make your own home made sweetened condensed milk : In a blender place : 1 cup powdered ( dry ) milk, 1/3 cup boiling water, 2/3 cup granulated sugar, 3 Tbs. butter. Blend smooth and to dissolve sugar. Store covered in refrigerator.
Make your own sweet butter for baking. Process one pint of cream in a food processor until it turns to
butter.( about 5 min ). Drain off water well and dry butter in a towel. You should have 7 0z. of butter
Try using both yeast and baking powder in a pizza dough or roll recipes for a restaurant quality texture ( soft inside, crispy,chewy outside) This combination is also often used in oriental yeast dough recipes for steamed buns.
Make your own Homemade Baking Powder: sift together: 2 Tbs Cream of tartar, 1 Tbs Cornstarch, 1 Tbs Baking
soda and store airtight. Use1 tsp to equal one tsp of the single acting store bought variety. This is one recipe and there are others. Search the Net
Or for just 1 tsp: : mix 1/4 tsp baking soda & 1/2 tsp cream of tartar to equal approximately 1 tsp of single acting baking powder. Some people also like to add about 1/4 tsp cornstarch to this mixture.
When making homemade crackers or flatbreads, roll the dough though the roller of a manuel pasta machine so it becomes thin and even
Easy Frosting of Cake on the serving plate: Place ( slide ) 4 strips of wax paper around the cake you are to frost on the serving plate. When done frosting, simply remove the waxed paper and the cake plate will remain clean!
Anchor your layer cake to serving plate or cardboard circle by placing on some icing and then place on the cake layer.
Need to remove a cake from a tube pan easily ? Use a cardboard cake circle and cut out a hole in the center of the circle. Slip the cardboard circle over the center tube and invert the cake onto the cake circle. Reinvert onto a serving platter or rack! Or to remove a cake from a round pan, invert on a cardboard cake circle and use the cardboard to slide the cake onto the cooling rack.
Need to make a heart shaped cake and don't have a heart shaped pan? Bake one square layer cake and one round layer cake. Cut the round cake in half. Fit the halves on the square layer to make a heart shape. Frost and there you have a heart shaped cake!
Easy way to decorate a frosted cake: arrange toothpicks around edges on top of the cake. Dust heavily with powered cocoa; then remove toothpicks for designer pattern. Or place a doily over a cake and dust with cocoa or powdered sugar; then remove doily for a lacy pattern
An easy way to get more pieces from a round cake is to: Cut a circular ring around the center of the cake, leave intact. Then cut slices all around the outside area of the ring and then in the inside area of the ring.
Can't Remove That Cake From the Pan? invert your cake pan ( bundt, tube pan etc. ) onto a rack. Wrap a heavy towel over the pan and leave on for 10 minutes. The cake should fall out of the pan with a gentle shake. Didn't budge? Try the towel method again and the cake should fall out now! My tip was also posted on one of my primers Coffee Cake Klatsch
If the bottom of your cakes or pastries are burned, freeze them and then when frozen use a serrated knife to scrape off the burned parts.
For extra moistness for box cake mixes, add 2 Tbs. of extra oil to the recipe.
Cake Mix cookies: to dry plain cake mix add 2 eggs & 1/2 cup oil. Blend well, drop by tsp onto a greased baking sheet, 2 inches apart and bake 8 to 10 mins. at 350F. See further below at the Shared Recipez, a recipe for cake mix macaroons.
For extra moistness for cakes in general, add a pan of water to the bottom oven shelf when baking your cakes
Frosting layers: Freeze cake layers before frosting. Frosting is so much easier! Level off tops of cake ( cut with floss or a serrated knife ) to make cake layers lay even. It really doesn't matter which layer faces up as long as each layer is flat! Frost cake layers by first frosting the sides of the cake and then the top. The process goes much smoother this way.
Stabilized whipped cream : one way of making great whipped cream frosting for cakes: add 1 to 2 Tbs. of instant dry vanillla pudding mix as you are beating the cream. The pudding adds flavor and texture to the cream. See other tips for making stabilized whipped cream below
Beat heavy cream with some powder sugar ( 2 Tbs. per cup cream ) to help stabilize the whipped cream.
Or beat in 1/4 tsp. unflavored gelatin per cup of whipping cream. to help stabilize it
Or add a tsp of cream of tartar to chilled heavy cream to help it whip well
Add a few drops of lemon juice to heavy cream for better whipping-
or 1 chilled unbeaten egg white and then whip cream
Cake Pan Size Conversions: for voulme judgement, fill your particular pan with water and measure that amount . You can also pour that amount of water into another pan to see how much more or less that pan will hold. Remember though, to fill cake pans at least 1/2 full with batter to allow for rising and even baking. Refer to my Resource Page for a handy cake pan volume chart.
Use an insulated baking sheet for your baked good especially if your oven tends to burn what you bake. These insulated baking sheets come in all sizes to fit standard ovens.
Freeze overripe bananas in their skins . When thawed ,the pulp will fall out and you do not need to mash! Easy way to make banana bread or cake!
To ripen bananas or other fruit quicker , wrap them in a brown paper bag
Banana Bread Tips: add a few teaspoons of fresh lemon juice to the recipe, to keep bananas bright. Substitute sour cream, buttermilk or yoghurt for milk in the recipe or for some of the fat in the recipe. Add some chocolate chips or chopped drained marachino cherries in your recipe for a nice change
Store vanilla beans tightly sealed unrefrigerated or they will mold.
Make your own vanilla extract: Buy a small bottle of good brandy, vodka or cognac. Pour half of the brandy into another bottle. Split 4 vanilla beans vertically and loosen the seeds with a point of a sharp knife. Place two sliced beans with seeds into each container. Fold the beans if you need them to fit. Tightly seal and store bottles in a cool dark place for several weeks. Shake bottles daily.
Note: see a reader's contributed recipe at the contributed recipe section for home made lemon extract
Make your own vanilla sugar: Split the beans vertically and stick one or two beans in a container of granulated sugar. Close tightly. Let flavor dissipate for a few days. The vanilla sugar is great for making whipped cream or to flavor your coffee. Or you can split the bean, finely chop it in the processor and mix in with 4 cups sugar, let sit a week and sift sugar and store airtight
Make vanilla oil ( for oil based cakes , yeast breads, salads etc, ) Split a bean down center and place in a pint of vegetable oil ( not olive ) and cover and let sit a week for flavor to develop.
Home made Almond paste and marachino cherries: see a reader's contributed recipes at the Baking and Tips Share pages section
Microwave citrus fruits such as lemons or oranges on high power for a minute or two. Remove and roll the fruit on the counter. This loosens up the juice and you will get more juice out of the fruit.
A bit of fresh lemon juice added to fresh cut fruits prevents them from turning brown plus adds a hint of flavor. To keep mashed bananas fresh looking, add a tsp or so of fresh lemon juice to them for your favorite banana bread recipe or to the apples in your apple pie recipes.
Converting all purpose flour to cake flour : Truthfully I'd rather buy cake flour. I have never been quite satisfied with substitutions. However you can just subtract 2 Tbs all purpose flour from each cup of all purpose to make 1 cup of cake flour. Some people even replace the 2 Tbs flour by adding 2 Tbs cornstarch ( lacks enough gluten- often a tenderizer in recipes ) to the all purpose flour. Sift the flour several times before using. You will have to experiment in making your own cake flour substitutions.
Make your own self rising ( raising ) flour: Simply add a bit of salt and about 1 tsp of baking powder to each cup of all purpose or cake flour in the recipe. Large quantity formula: 1 cup baking powder to 10 pounds ( quarts ) flour.
For both: Use slightly more baking powder if heavier types of flour are added ( corn, rye, bran etc are used. ) and slighly less if many eggs are used in the recipe.
Make your own pastry flour : combine 1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour with 2/3 cup cake flour to make 2 cups. Good for pastry, cookies and brownies ( not really for cakes ) . Similar to cake flour. Found at health food or natural food stores .
Milk and heavy cream may be frozen in paper containers. Thaw before using.
Egg yolks and egg whites may be separated and frozen in separate containers. Thaw before use.
Blueberries and cranberries freeze very well. Strawberries and raspberries get mushy when frozen and thawed .
All nuts freeze well. Stored at room temperature or in hot weather they may actually turn rancid.
Placing a bay leaf into grain or flour containers wards off starch bugs and won't affect the taste of the flour or grain.
OR freeze bags of flour, grains, meal for a few days. Freezing should kill any bugs or larvae living in the bags.
Citrus rinds, dried fruit, coconut, raisins and chocolate all freeze well.
Pieces of apple ( as also a piece of fresh white bread ) stored with brown sugar will keep the sugar soft or make rock hard brown sugar soft again. This also works well for dried coconut and hard marshmallows.
Some say freeze the sugar well sealed or refrigerate brown sugar well sealed and it will remain moist and lump free.
Also pieces of cut apple stored with baked cakes such as gingerbread or spice cake add a delightful aroma and also keep the cake moist.
Another way to keep baked cakes moist is to keep a small glass of water enclosed with the cake in the cake container.
Place fruits for quicker ripening in a sealed brown paper bag. The ethylene gas is trapped which helps ripen fruits faster.
Use a piece of uncooked spaghetti as a cake tester
Use dental floss to slice cake into horizontal layers before frosting or to even off tops of layers.
Add a pinch of baking powder to powder sugar frostings to keep frostings moist and from cracking
Try adding a teaspoon of vanilla or other extract to your pie pastry doughs for a nice flavor
Add some baking powder to your room temeperature egg whites in your meringue recipe,for a better meringue
Use a potato peeler to shave off chocolate shavings from a chocolate candy bar. Or use a hand grater to get shavings.
Wet a knife in hot water and dry before slicing to cut each piece of frosted cake to prevent messy pieces.
Use deli paper and form into a cone and cut off the tip to pipe frosting or whipped cream onto the cake.
Place a paper doily on a cake and sprinkle on powder sugar. Lift off gently for a pretty design.
Fresh ,unsprayed edible flowers make wonderful garnishes for cakes.See the list of flowers on my Resource Page.
Make your own sour milk: to each cup of sweet milk ( regular plain milk ) add 1 Tbs. vinegar or lemon juice and let the milk thicken and sour about 5 minutes or more- OR add 1 1/4 tsp cream of tartar to every cup of sweet milk in the recipe
Careful adding too much baking soda to certain recipes as chocolate batter turns a reddish brown color and blueberries in sour cream recipes may turn green! Also you may get a chemical after taste. Follow recipe instructions.
Prepare a "master mix" ( flour, salt, baking powder and shortening ) as an economical and convenient way to make your cakes, cookies, biscuits etc. Consult cookbooks or the Net for making your master mix and mix recipes. Or see my Mix Recipe on my culinary questions/resource pages. Use link below to get there..
Baking should be enjoyable and rewarding. However, if your cake recipe doesn't come out perfect, make a dessert: Coarsely crumble or tear the cake into pieces and mix in pudding or whipped cream , with canned fruits, nuts, raisins etc for a spoon type of dessert.
Many cakes are baked at moderate oven temperatures: 350F/180Celsius/Gasmark4 See my Culinary Resource page ( link below ) for a handy list of "approximate" conversions.
Crush nuts easily by putting them in a ziplock bag and crushing them with a heavy rolling pin or hitting the bag with the bottom of a heavy pot.
Smack Sugar Bags gently on the counter to prevent clumping of granulated sugar
Easily Grease your pan by putting a small baggie ( plastic bag ) on your hand to smear shortening or oil on your pan. No messy hands! Or make a pan coating ( see my Resource page ) and brush mixture onto the pans.
Often the best baking pans are the most popular and modest priced pans. You don't need to spend a lot of money to buy good baking pans available at your supermarket , kitchen or department store.
Dip biscuit or cookie cutters in flour, for easier cutting. Dip plastic cutters in warm oil for easier use.
Most all cookie dough may be frozen for later use. Chilling the dough also prevents cookies from spreading and getting to thin when baked
Make a cover for your rolling pin to prevent dough sticking by using an old cut stocking or panty hose to cover . Secure cut ends by tying with string or a rubber band
You can make a very good approximation of condensed milk. In a saucepan, combine a cup of evaporated milk with 1-1/4 cups of sugar. Heat until the sugar is completely dissolved. Let cool. You can refrigerate the mixture for several days.
Other home made recipes for making condensed milk really do not have good flavor.
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